Lessons
by 0LemonadeCandy0
Summary: Akane decides that she needs to learn to protect herself with more than just a Dominator. She wants to learn hand to hand combat, and Kougami is just the person to teach her!
1. Chapter 1

"Kougami, can I talk to you for a moment?"

Kougami looked up at Akane from the terminal he was working at and bit back a reply informing her that she could order him to talk whenever she wanted. Instead he sighed, nodded and stood up. He knew by now that giving orders wasn't her way.

He followed her to one of the adjacent conference rooms and fell into a chair. She stood formally on the other side of the table, hands clasped behind her back.

"Kougami, I would like to ask a favour"

He retained his usual sullen expression except for his eyebrows which raised a fraction in surprise. He had expected to be reprimanded for one of his frequent breaches of protocol. That was usually what happened when a superior wanted a private word, but that didn't seem to be the case today

"The thing is" ,she faltered, "I want to be strong"

Now Kougami's brows drew together. There was a long pause, then: "Akane, anyone who has worked with you couldn't deny that you're strong...considering what you've been through as a junior officer, and how you stick to what you believe is right, all while keeping a clear psychopass...that_is _strong-" He was about to in a bitter tone,"stronger than me" But Akane cut him off.

"No, no! That's not what I meant! I mean, thank you-" her face was reddening by the second and she bowed twice in quick succession "but what I meant is that I want to be physically strong. I want to know how to fight. Like you"

Now it was Kougami's turn to be embarrassed. Caught sharing so many of his inner thoughts his cheeks turned faint pink. "Oh" he said, taken aback, "but why?".

"Well" she began, speaking slowly "there might be a time when I don't have a Dominator... or it doesn't work or it gets broken. In that case I want to be able to protect myself and others, the way I've seen you do!" Gaining confidence she continued "I took this job to protect people and I can't do that the way I am." She gestured to her frail frame. "I want to be equally confident in my physical skill as in my skill with a Dominator."

A cloud passed over her subordinates eyes and he leaned back in his chair crossing his arms and legs. "So? Where do I come into this?"

"Obviously I want you to teach me!" She smiled imploringly.

"Why not take one of the self defence courses the CID offers for inspectors. They're very-" Akane struck the table in front of them with her palms, surprising them both a little at her abruptness.

"You know perfectly well that the courses are useless! You were one of the ones who told me to forget everything I learnt at the academy when I came here!" She calmed slightly "Besides those courses are all based around the Dominators and I just told you I want to learn to fight without one." She changed tactic and tried stroking his ego a little "You're clearly the best hand to hand fighter here, so...?"

Kougami frowned again "Akane, I really don't think you should do this. Think how it would look"

"Oh! Don't worry, its not against protocol for us to train together, I've already checked. And you won't get in trouble for attacking me if I ask you to" she finished with a small smile.

"No, I meant...learning to fight like a criminal, thinking how we think...you don't want to cloud your pass."

Akane chuckled lightly "Don't worry about me, I'm miss clear pass remember?" And she smiled and innocently as if to prove her point.

Kougami didn't reply, he stared at the floor and continued to frown. _Why is he so reluctant? _Mused Akane, _I know we aren't exactly great friends but I thought he wouldn't mind helping me out. He probably thinks I'd be a nuisance, but if I just get a chance he'll see that I'd be a good student..._

Akane sighed heavily and walked slowly towards the door "Thats ok Kougami, I can just ask someone else." She put a finger to her chin and looked up as if thinking "I guess Kagari is just as good as you, maybe even better..."

Kougami started and rose half standing from his chair. "N-no!" he stammered. Still facing the door, away from Kougami, Akane smirked to herself, _working here sure has brought out a cunning streak in me._

Slightly more possessed of himself he continued "Kagari talks big, but he would teach you all wrong. You're right, I should be the one to instruct you if you insist". In reality, Kougami knew that Kagari was in fact very good at hand to hand combat, and even better than him with knives. But Kougami's head was swimming with visions of Kagari holding Akane's arms and teaching her to punch...inspecting her legs while she demonstrated kicking technique...teaching her (he shuddered) ground grappling.

"Thank you, thank you Kougami! I'll show you how good a student I can be! Let's see...I'll meet you tomorrow afternoon from 5 until 7. The gym is usually empty then so we won't be bothering anyone. Thank you!"

And with a quick but deep bow she walked quickly and happily out of the room before he could change his mind.

Kougami sank back into the chair and ran his hands through his spiky black hair. _Two hours alone with Akane. What have I done?_


	2. Chapter 2

At 4:58 exactly, Akane walked down the corridor of the CID office headquarters towards the staff gym. A few older male employees just leaving from their afternoon workout nudged each other as she passed. Her yellow running shorts with white stripes down the sides and white t-shirt were a little out of place among the gruff sweat stained figures around her. She walked quickly, anxious not to be late for her first lesson lest she give Kougami a reason to regret his, already reluctantly made, decision.

She was greeting by the sound of fists on padding as she entered. "Hey!" she ran over to the bag Kougami was using "you started without me!".

He bounced a few times on the balls of his feet, facing off against an imaginary opponent. "Just warming up" and he turned to her with his customarily serious face. "Before we begin I need you to agree to follow my instructions exactly. Even if you don't enjoy it or don't understand why I'm asking you to do something. Its important you do this so you don't get hurt or learn sloppy technique which will cause problems for you later on".

Akane suppressed a giggle. Not because she didn't take what Kougami said to heart, but because he reminded her at that moment, so forcibly of her old stern school master. "Yes Kougami Sensei" she said more than a little tongue in cheek and bowing deeply.

Kougami took half a step back. Apparently the school girl- teacher scenario had just occurred to him too. He gulped. He _was_ Japanese after all.

Shaking himself mentally he continued, pacing a little, less to stretch his legs and more to put some distance between him and his new student. "Today I just want to get an idea of your physical abilities and fitness, then we'll move forward from there". Akane nodded, listening intently and eager to please...

********************************************************************************  
"Ok, you can stop".

Akane ceased her sit ups and lay on her back panting. Kougami's face came into her field vision, his figure seemingly towering above her. "Can you go warm down on your own now?". Akane nodded and stood up trying not to appear to shaky on her feet when in reality all her muscles felt like jelly.

Kougami walked to his water bottle and took a sip. So far he had been fairly impressed with his new student's abilities. But she had been right, she was not physically strong and it made him uncomfortable to know that she had been out in the field while so vulnerable. Even though the enforcers were meant to do the dirty work on jobs, sometimes handlers got bitten in dog fights too. He frowned. He was not meant to feel this way. This... Protective. Enforcers generally felt animosity towards their handlers and indifference at best, but Akane had been different from the start... Best not to dwell on these confusing feelings he concluded, he'd just have to bring his little inspector up to scratch so he could stop worrying about her.

He walked over to Akane making an inventory of what they had done during the lesson. "So far I'm impressed, you're pretty fast, you've got agility and co-ordination, you pick up technique quickly," and clocking Akane sitting on the ground stretching in a near perfect split he added, "and you've got great flexibility." The last comment hung in the air like a question, Akane blushed and explained, "I used to dance. Ballet."

"Why did you stop? Did you get bored with it?"

"No! I love- I mean, I loved dancing." 

"Then why did you quit?" Kougami probed. Akane was somewhat of an enigma to him and the other enforcers. It would be nice to have the upper hand on them with some of her background information.

"I didn't quit..." She sighed and resigned herself to tell him the whole story. "M parents put me in classes when I was very young and I showed a lot of aptitude. They were hopeful that Sybil would choose me to become a famous ballet dancer. The Japanese National Ballet is very prestigious. Not that I cared about any of that, I just loved the feeling and the flow of dancing. The way I felt as though I was in another world, one where normal problems didn't matter but everything rested in the balance of executing the perfect move." Coming out of her reverie she blushed, blushing was becoming quite a habit of hers while she was around Kougami. She continued, though without the dreamy quality her voice had just held "But then I started to do very well in school and it was clear that Sybil would never let my academic abilities go to waste in a Performance Class career type. My parents wanted to pull me out of dance classes straight away but my grandmother made them let me keep going" she smiled sadly. "But then grandmother passed away...".

Kougami frowned and wished he hadn't asked Akane about her past. Usually the worries of others didn't affect him like this. _What's wrong with me?_

Akane suddenly perked up into her usual cheerful self. "Though I guess Sybil wouldn't have chosen this job for me if it wasn't the one that would bring me true happiness". But behind her overly sunny smile Kougmi still saw a tinge of sadness in Akane's eyes. He was silent for a short while, then he tapped the wrist communicator he was wearing, brought up a holo-screen and typed in a command.

"Here, watch this". On the screen Akane saw two men bow to one another then begin to spar while a crowed looked on. "This", said Kougami, "is from the national Wushu Kung Fu championship this year". The two men were graceful and agile, executing their attacks and defences with the utmost precision. "What do you see?"

Akane was fixated by the scene on the screen. "A dance. I see a dance! Is this what I'll be learning?"

"Something similar, but don't get too ahead of yourself". Kougami gave her a rare smile.

Akane was suddenly very happy and very grateful to Kougmi for cheering her up. She was also suddenly and inexplicably seized with the impulse to kiss Kougami on the cheek to thank him. She was on the point of leaning in when she stopped herself and remembered that she was _not _a schoolgirl any more and Kougami was _not _one of her school friends like Yuki or Kaori. She would have kissed either of them on the cheek if they had been sweet to her like Kougami was just now. What Kougami _was_, she sternly reminded herself, was a co-worker, a subordinate no less! And perhaps most disturbingly... a man.

Instead of kissing him on the cheek Akane stammered out a thank you and said "So I'll see you this time tomorrow?".

Kougami smiled, this time almost condescendingly "I'll see you this time in two days".

Akane was about to protest that she wanted to learn faster than that but she remembered the promise she had made about following all the instructions the was given. So she agreed and they parted ways, each with an odd feeling of elation mixed in with confusing new thoughts.

********************************************************************************  
"GOOOOOOOOOD MORNING!" Akane's almost obscenely cheerful AI housekeeper trilled rousing her from sleep. "Miss Akane has set her alarm for 8:30am but I woke you 15 minutes early because my biometric indicators show that you are showing universal muscle soreness. Would you like to spend the last 15 minutes in bed with the massage mode engaged? It would get your body feeling as great as that sky blue psycho-pass of yours in a jiffy"

It was now that Akane realised why Kougami had insisted they take a two day break between training sessions. She nodded feebly to the housekeeper in the form of a floating jellyfish and almost moaned in pleasure as her bed began to vibrate and loosen her small tired muscles.


	3. Chapter 3

"This is a jab", Kougami demonstrated the punch, "and this is a straight. Can you tell the difference between the two?"

Akane thought. "Well the first one, the jab, you just moved your arm but the straight kind of flowed through your whole body. It looked more powerful"

Kougami nodded, impressed. "Very good. I guess you're as smart as everyone says" and he tapped her on the forehead with a long index finger provoking a pout from the little inspector. "Now let me see you try..."

Kougami set Akane up at one of the punching bags to do sets of jabs and straights on her left and right sides while he warmed up on his own. Akane examined her fists meeting the bag, swaddled their brand new candy pink wraps. Each strike felt clumsy and alien but she knew better than to complain. She knew from her dancing days that for every new movement that felt all wrong there would come a time when she wouldn't remember what it felt like to _not _be able to perform it with the utmost fluidity and ease. She hoped that time would come soon...

She was broken from her reverie but a firm push to the shoulder which sent her sprawling onto her backside. Above her stood Kougami, arms crossed. "I told you earlier", he scolded, "your stance needs to be wider or you'll have no stability". His voice was stern but his lips were curling ever so slightly at the sides. _Is he __**enjoying**__ this?_Wondered Akane. She got irritably to her feet massaging her sore tail-bone and grumbled "or maybe I fell over because you're stronger than me".

Kougami sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "You have a real hang up and being strong you

know. But being effective in combat is so much more than that. Body control and smarts win out over brute strength majority of the time. Which is particularly important for you to know."

Akane cocked her head, "why is that particularly important to me?"

"Well sorry to break it to you _inspector_, but most of the time when your kind is hurt in the field it's not in a brawl type situation, its a desperate criminal taking a hostage." He moved silkily towards her. "So I can teach you to throw a perfect punch, but would you know what to do if someone did this?" Quick as lighting he had both her wrists in a seemingly unbreakable grip. "Or this?" His hands travelled up her arms to her shoulders and around her neck. "Or this?" and he spun her so fast she staggered only to find a strong arm hooked around her neck and another around her torso, pinning her arms to her sides. He hissed lightly in her ear and she shivered against him, though if he felt it he didn't show it. _He's __**definitely **__enjoying_ _this_ she concluded. But out loud she answered defiantly "No I wouldn't be able to get away if someone bigger and stronger than me grabbed me!".

Kougami released her, exasperated. "I thought you were meant to be _smart!_" he tapped her again on the forehead, eliciting a scowl this time. "Here, lets go back to the first scenario". He took her wrists again, this time more slowly. "Instead of pulling away, try moving your arm in an outward circle motion...very good!". Akane discovered to her delight that she could break even Kougami's strongest grip with this technique. Her happiness was made two fold when he showed her that after breaking an assailant's grip she could easily put him into a wrist lock that would allow her to control the whole body. "No matter how strong someone is, no one wants a broken wrist. So they'll be at your mercy once you get them to this point" her teacher explained.

After learning basic techniques to escape most different grips on her body, the rest other their session was spent with Kougami coming at her in various ways and Akane having to dodge or break his grip. By the time Kougmi called an end to the sparing she was succeeding in her task about half of the time. They faced each other, smiling and sweat running down their necks. "See",Kougami panted, "you _are _smart"_._ He went to tap her on the forehead once more but before he knew it he was in a wrist lock, and Akane was smiling triumphantly down at him. He grinned back, "you'll be a formidable opponent yet my little inspector". His heart missed a beat when he realised he had said out loud, the nickname he had taken to calling Akane in his head. But he breathed in relief when she seemed not to notice but rather released him from her grip and said "so, this time in two days?".

Something had melted between them, and they both felt it. They parted in good spirits eager for the next training session not as teacher and student, but as friends.

_**His **__little inspector huh? _Mused Akane as she walked towards the showers. The thought was accompanied by a completely new sensation, a fluttering in the pit of her stomach. She decided this was a result of dehydration and set a reminder on her wrist display to add electrolytes to her next nutrition intake.


End file.
